Week 7: Summary

As we have learned over the last seven weeks the evolution of the human species is a never ending process. As our world continues to grow and change we will continue to do the same so that we can adapt to our ever changing planet. The factors that push these changes can be biological, environmental, or sociological. Of all of these factors environmental and sociological factors by far have the most effect on the evolution of the human body.

Sociological factors have an enormous impact on the development of the human body, particularly on the human brain. Since the brain is the command center of the body whatever damage and stressors it takes on while be exhibited throughout the body in many ways. This semester in my senior capstone we talked about stress and the negative effects it has on the human body. Sociological factors like where na individual stands on the social ladder, race, and ethnicity can severely effect the development of he human body. If this stress is prolonged for too long than it could potentially change the genetic makeup of our species in the future years. Similarly, I believe that our addiction to technology will test our memory in the coming years. As a society we no longer have to memorize telephone numbers, address or even flash cards. Thanks to new technology the answers are always at our fingertips and we don’t use our memory half as much as we used to which could lead to smaller brain size for our ancestors in a few thousand years.

Environmental factors also have an important role to play in the evolution of the human species. As a species we continue to grow and expand every day. With this growth and expansion we have to make more room, build more buildings and take over more land. As we do this we are affecting what our affecting the evolution of our species. This expansion could potentially affect what the future generation would talk like, act like, and look like. As mentioned in this weeks summary video by taking over new land different type of people become put in smaller and smaller vicinities. This compression of individual people groups increases the chances of intermingling and the likelihood of the offspring have a completely new genetic makeup. Additionally, by expanding farther and farther we impact the amount of land that is used for farming and agriculture. The decrease in farm land will lead to a decrease in the amount of food that can be farmed and harvested therefore continuing to limit our access to the necessary amount of food which could in tern lead to an evolutionary change so that we might better adapt to this limited diet.

Over the course of the last seven weeks we have studied the evolution of the human species. Starting from the basics and reviewing genetics and our genetic makeup, to studying different kinds of anthropological research, our relation to monkeys and finally the study of our very first ancestors.